Database

Fundamentals
Robert J. Robbins
Johns Hopkins University
rrobbins@gdb.org

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 1

What is a Database?
General:
A database is any collection of related data.
Restrictive:
A database is a persistent, logically coherent
collection of inherently meaningful data, relevant
to some aspects of the real world.

The portion of the real world relevant to the database is sometimes referred
to as the universe of discourse or as the database miniworld. Whatever it
is called, it must be well understood by the designers of the database.

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 2

What is a Database Management System?

A database management system (DBMS) is a
collection of programs that enables users to create
and maintain a database.
According to the
ANSI/SPARC DBMS Report (1977), a DBMS
should be envisioned as a multi-layered system:

External Level
(individual user views)

Conceptual Level
(Enterprise-wide view\)

Internal Level
(storage view)

Storage Level
(physical storage)

File: N_drive:\jhu\class\1995\db-fund.ppt

External
View 1

External
View n

Conceptual
Schema

Internal
Schema

Physical
Database
1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 3

What Does a DBMS Do?

Database management systems provide several
functions in addition to simple file management:

allow concurrency

control security

maintain data integrity

provide for backup and recovery

control redundancy

allow data independence

provide non-procedural query language

perform automatic query optimization

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 4

Who Interacts with a DBMS?

Many different individuals are involved with a
database management system over its life:

systems analysts

database designers

database administrators

application developers

users

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 5

Components of a Database System

Direct User
Queries

Application
Programs

Database
Administrator

DML
Processor

DDL
Compiler

Authorization
Tables

Database
Manager

Database
Description
Tables

Concurrent
Access
Tables

File
Manager

System
Catalog

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Physical
System
Database
1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Metadata
Database

Database Fundamentals: 6

Relational Database Model

What is a relational database?

a database that treats all of its data as a

collection of relations

What is a relation?

a kind of set

a subset of a Cartesian product

an unordered set of ordered tuples

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 7

Basic Set Concepts

SET
examples

CARTESIAN
PRODUCT
example
Note:

RELATION
example
Note:

any collection of distinct entities of any

sort.
A = { 1,2,3,4,5,6 }
B = { H,T }
C = { R,B }
D = { Grant, Sherman, Lee }

a set of ordered pairs, produced by

combining each element of one set with
each element of another set.
B x C = { <H,R>,<H,B>,<T,R>,<T,B> }
Cartesian products may be generated by
multiplying any number of sets together.
The actual number of sets involved in a
particular case is said to be the degree
or arity of that Cartesian product.

a subset of a Cartesian product

Q = { <H,R>,<H,B> }
Relations may be of any degree (arity).

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 8

Basic Set Concepts

A set is usually indicated by including a commadelimited list of the names its members within a
pair of wavy brackets:
R = { 1,2,3,4,5,6 }
G = { Marshall, Eisenhower, Bradley }

The members of a set are unordered. Two sets

are considered equivalent if and only if they
contain exactly the same members, without regard
for the order in which the members are listed.
R = { 1,2,3,4,5,6 }
= { 3,2,1,6,4,5 }
G = { Marshall, Eisenhower, Bradley }
= { Bradley, Marshall, Eisenhower }

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 9

Basic Set Concepts

An ordered double (or triple or quadruple or ntuple) is usually indicated by including a commadelimited list of the names its members within a
pair of pointed brackets:
S = < 2,4 >
C = < Marshall, Eisenhower, Bradley >
Order must be maintained in ordered n-tuples.
Two tuples are considered different if they contain
the same members in a different order.
S = < 2,4 > < 4,2 >
C = < Marshall, Eisenhower, Bradley >
< Bradley, Eisenhower, Marshall >

A set may consist of an unordered collection of

ordered tuples. For example, we could imagine
the set of all ordered pairs of integers, such that
the first element is the square root of the second
element.
R = { <1,1>,< 2,4 >,<3,9> ... }

As this ellipsis indicates, sets can be

infinite in size. However, sets that
are actually represented in a database
must be finite.

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 10

Basic Set Concepts

LET

R be the set of possible outcomes when rolling

a single red die.
R = { 1,2,3,4,5,6 }

LET

B be the set of possible outcomes when rolling

a single blue die.
B = { 1,2,3,4,5,6 }

THEN

The Cartesian product R x B gives the set of

outcomes when the two dice are rolled
together:
R x B: {

File: N_drive:\jhu\class\1995\db-fund.ppt

<1,1>
<1,2>
<1,3>
<1,4>
<1,5>
<1,6>

<3,1>
<3,2>
<3,3>
<3,4>
<3,5>
<3,6>

<5,1>
<5,2>
<5,3>
<5,4>
<5,5>
<5,6>

<2,1>
<2,2>
<2,3>
<2,4>
<2,5>
<2,6>

<4,1>
<4,2>
<4,3>
<4,4>
<4,5>
<4,6>

<6,1>
<6,2>
<6,3>
<6,4>
<6,5>
<6,6> }

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 11

Relation: Subset of a Cartesian Product

Set R

Set B

A Cartesian product of two sets

can be generated by combining
every member of one set with
every member of the other set.
This results in a complete set of
ordered pairs, consisting of
every possible combination of
one member of the first set
combined with one member of
the second set. The number of
elements in a Cartesian product
is equal to M x N, where M and
N give the number of members
in each set.

Starting two sets.

<1,1>
<1,2>
<1,3>
<1,4>
<1,5>
<1,6>

<3,1>
<3,2>
<3,3>
<3,4>
<3,5>
<3,6>

<5,1>
<5,2>
<5,3>
<5,4>
<5,5>
<5,6>

<2,1>
<2,2>
<2,3>
<2,4>
<2,5>
<2,6>

<4,1>
<4,2>
<4,3>
<4,4>
<4,5>
<4,6>

<6,1>
<6,2>
<6,3>
<6,4>
<6,5>
<6,6>

A Cartesian product of two sets,

shown as a list of ordered pairs.

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A Cartesian product of two sets,

shown as a connection diagram,
with each member of the first set
connected to each member of the
other set.

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 12

Relation: Subset of a Cartesian Product

<1,1>
<1,2>
<1,3>
<1,4>
<1,5>
<1,6>

A Cartesian product pairs every

member of the first set with every
member of the second set.

<2,1>
<2,2>
<2,3>
<2,4>
<2,5>
<2,6>

A relation pairs some

members of the first set
with some members of
the second set.

<3,1>
<3,2>
<3,3>
<3,4>
<3,5>
<3,6>

<1,1>
<2,2>
<3,3>
<4,4>

<4,1>
<4,2>
<4,3>
<4,4>
<4,5>
<4,6>
<5,1>
<5,2>
<5,3>
<5,4>
<5,5>
<5,6>
<6,1>
<6,2>
<6,3>
<6,4>
<6,5>
<6,6>
File: N_drive:\jhu\class\1995\db-fund.ppt

<5,5>
<6,6>

A relation, therefore, must always

be representable as a subset of some
Cartesian product.

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 13

Relation: Set of Ordered Tuples

A binary relation is a set of ordered doubles, with one element a member of the
first set and one element a member of the second set. Generally, we could
represent a set of ordered doubles as below. S1 is the first set and S2 the second.

S1

S2

By adding sets, relations can be extended to include ordered triples, ordered

quadruples or, in general, any ordered n-tuple, as below. A relation with n
participating sets is said to be of degree n or to possess arity n.

S1 x

S2

S3

Sn

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Database Fundamentals: 14

Relations as a Database
An n-ary relation (i.e., a subset of a Cartesian product of n sets) could be be
represented in a computer system as an n-column tabular file, with one member
from the first set named in the first column of each record and one member of
the second set in the second column, etc.

S1 x

S2

S3

Sn

Codd recognized that many of the files used in computerized information

systems were very similar in structured to tabularized relations.

Smith

Robert

L.

1154 Elm Street

Glendale

MD

21200

Smith

Judy

F.

1154 Elm Street

Glendale

MD

21200

Jones

Greg

G.

765 Cedar Lane

Towson

MD

21232

Harris

Lloyd

K.

2323 Maple Dr

Towson

MD

21232

Ziegler

Fred

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K.

7272 Cherry Ln.

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Baltimore

MD

21208

Database Fundamentals: 15

Relations as a Database
The business data file resembles a relation in a number of ways. The tabular
file itself corresponds to a relation. Each column, or attribute, in the file
corresponds to a particular set and all of the values from a particular column
come from the same domain, or set. Each row, or record, in the file
corresponds to a tuple

Domains
(sets)

Name-L

Name-F

MI

address

city

state

zip

Smith

Robert

L.

1154 Elm Street

Glendale

MD

21200

Smith

Judy

F.

1154 Elm Street

Glendale

MD

21200

Jones

Greg

G.

765 Cedar Lane

Towson

MD

21232

Harris

Lloyd

K.

2323 Maple Dr

Towson

MD

21232

Ziegler

Fred

K.

7272 Cherry Ln.

Baltimore

MD

21208

If such a file is to be genuinely interchangeable with a relation, certain

contraints must be met:
every tuple must be unique
every attribute within a tuple must be single-valued
in in all tuples, the values for the same attribute must come from the
same domain or set
no attributes should be null

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 16

Relations as a Database
An essential attribute of a relation is that every tuple must be unique. This
means that the values present in some individual attribute (or set of attributes)
must always provide enough information to allow a unique identification of
every tuple in the relation. In a relational database, these identifying values
are known as key values or just as the key.
Sometimes more than one key could be defined for given table. For
example, in the table below (which represents, perhaps, a patient record file),
several columns might serve as a key. Either patient number (assigned by
the hospital) or social security number (brought with the patient) are
possibilities. In addition, one might argue that the combination of last name,
address, and birth date could collectively serve as a key.
Any attribute or set of attributes that might possibly serve as a key is known
as a candidate key. Keys that involve only one attribute are known as
simple keys. Keys that involve more than one attribute are composite keys.

patient #

SS #

Last Name

address

birth date

P-64122

123-45-6789

Smith

123 Main Street

10 MAY 44

P-75642

001-32-6873

Pedersen

1700 Cedar Barn Way

31 MAR 59

P-70875

444-44-5555

Wilson

1321 North South St

7 AUG 90

P-79543

555-12-1212

Grant

808 Farragut Avenue

1 DEC 66

P-71536

888-88-8888

MacPherson

1617 Pennsylvania Ave

11 APR 60

In designing a database, one of the candidate keys for each relation must be
chosen to be the primary key for that table. Choosing primary keys is a
crucial task in database design. If keys need to be redesignated, the entire
system may have to be redone. Primary keys can never be null and should
never be changed. Sometimes none of the candidate keys for a relation are
likely to remain stable over time. Then, an arbitrary identifier might be created
to serve as a primary key. Such arbitrary keys are also known as surrogate
keys.
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Database Fundamentals: 17

Relations as a Database
A binary relation (i.e., a subset of a Cartesian product of two sets) could be be
represented in a computer system as two-column tabular file, with one member
from the first set named in the first column of each record and one member of
the second set in the second column. For example, a binary relation could be
used to provide unique three-letter identifiers for academic departments.
Additional relations could be used to give more information about individual
departments or individual faculty members.

ZOL

Zoology

PSD

Political Science

CPS

Computer Science

HIS

History

ACC

Accounting

ZOL

Zoology

Room 203

Natural Science Bldg

355 4640

CPS

Computer Science

Room 714A

Wells Hall

355 5210

BSP

Biological Science

Room 141

Natural Science Bldg

353 4610

CEM

Chemistry

Room 320

Chemistry Bldg

355 9175

PSD

Room 303

Political Science

355 6590

South Kedzie Hall

999-99-9999

Johnson

William

F.

1533 Raleigh Dr.

Baltimore

MD

21211

888-88-8888

Johnson

William

F.

2842 Colony Ave.

Baltimore

MD

21201

777-77-7777

Brown

James

G.

99 W. East St.

Towson

MD

21232

666-66-6666

Brown

Gwen

K.

99 W. East St.

Towson

MD

21232

111-11-1111

Ziegler

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Samual

L.

7272 Cherry Ln.

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Baltimore

MD

21208

Database Fundamentals: 18

Relations as a Database
Yet another relation could be used to show what faculty were members of what
departments. Notice that faculty member 999-99-9999 is a member of more
than one department and that, even on this short list, the department of zoology
has two members given.

999-99-9999

ZOL

888-88-8888

PSD

7777-77-7777

CPS

666-66-6666

ZOL

999-99-9999

BSP

Relations of this sort, that combine identifiers from two other relations, provide
the glue that holds a relational database together.

other fields

Member-of Relation

SS Number

SS Number

Departments Relation

Faculty Relation

Dept Code

Dept Code

other fields

Whenever the values in an attribute column in one table point to primary keys
in another (or the same) table, the attribute column is said to be a foreign key.
Columns containing foreign keys are subject to an integrity constraint: any
value present as a foreign key must also be present as a primary key.
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Database Fundamentals: 19

Relational Database Operators

Data models consist of data structures and
permitted operations on those data structures.
Part of Codds genius was to recognize that
many of the standard set operators that can take
relations as operands map nicely to real data
manipulation problems:

Cartesian product

union

intersection

difference

Codd devised some additional operators to

provide extra manipulatory power:

select

project

join

divide

The operators have now been extended to

include more useful manipulations:

outer join

outer union

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Database Fundamentals: 20

Relational Database Normal Forms

Considerable study has been made of the properties of relations as they affect
the behavior of relational databases. The results of these studies are captured in
the definition of normal forms.

First Normal Form:

A relation is in first normal form (1NF)
if and only if all underlying domains
contain atomic values only.
Second Normal Form:
A relation is in second normal form
(2NF) if and only if it is in 1NF and
every non-key attribute is fully
dependent on the primary key.
Third Normal Form:
A relation is in third normal form (3NF)
if and only if it is in 2 NF and the nonkey attributes are mutually
independent.
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Database Fundamentals: 21

What is the E-R Data Model?

The Entity-Relationship (E-R) data model is a
semantically rich model that can be mapped to a
relational system.

other fields

Member-of Relation

SS Number

SS Number

Departments Relation

Faculty Relation

Dept Code

Dept Code

other fields

The three files represented above are all relations in the formal sense. Chen
(1976) noted that different relations may play different roles in a database and
that being able to recognize and document those roles is a key part of database
design. The faculty and the department relations above both store
information about particular real-world entities. The member-of relation, on
the other hand, stores information about specific relationships involving
individual pairs of real-world entities.

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Database Fundamentals: 22

The E-R Data Model

Different needs for access and use of the
database can be supported through different
user views
External
View 1

External
View n

Logical data independence

occurs here.

Conceptual
Database

Physical data independence

occurs here.

Physical
Database

Definition and mapping

written in data definition
language

Implemented on physical
devices, using a commercial
database product

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Database Fundamentals: 23

The E-R Data Model

Layers may be added to a conceptual design in
order to increase the semantic richness available
at the top design level.
External
View 1

Conceptual
Database
(E-R)

Although the E-R approach

does not require an underlying relational model, most
E-R models can be converted
to relational models fairly
easily.

Conceptual
Database
(relational)

Physical
Database

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1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

External
View n

The
entity-relationship
approach (Chen, 1976)
improved the mapping
between the semantics of a
database design and that
portion of the real world
being modeled with the
data.

Codds relational model

(1970) provided the first
formal basis for database
design.

Database Fundamentals: 24

The E-R Data Model

If layered conceptual models are used, the layering may be perceived differently
by the systems users and developers. Users often see the database only in terms
of the views that they employ. System analysts and designers may think
primarily about the E-R schema, whereas the database administrator is likely to
deal primarily with the relational schema and the physical system.

External
View 1

Moving between conceptual

models can be difficult,
especially if automated
tools to facilitate the move
are not available.

Conceptual
Database
(E-R)

Conceptual
Database
(relational)

If a commercial RDBMS is
used, a relational conceptual
model provides a basis for
designing and implementing
an underlying physical
database.
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External
View n

A different conceptual model

may be necessary to capture
the semantics of the database
domain.

If a commercial relational
database system is used,
mapping from a relational
conceptual model to the
physical database should be
relatively straightforward.

Physical
Database

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 25

E-R Data Model: Graphical Conventions

Sets of real-world entities are represented with
named rectangles:

Faculty

Departments

Students

Classrooms

Courses

Relationships between members of entity sets

are represented with named diamonds that are
connected to the rectangles of the participating
entity sets with directed arcs:

Departments

4,n

majors
in

1,2

Students

Arcs are drawn with an orientation that points from foreign keys to primary
keys. The min:max participation cardinality can be indicated by placing
pairs of numbers on each arc. Here, 4,n means that every department is
required to have at least four student majors, but can have many more; 1,2
means that each student is required to have at least one major and is permitted
to have no more than two majors. Sometimes only the maximum participation
cardinalities are shown.
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Database Fundamentals: 26

E-R Data Model: Graphical Conventions

Many different cardinalities are possible.
Documenting the cardinalities is an essential
part of database analysis and design.
One-to-one:
Entity Set A

Many-to-one:
Entity Set A

Relates

Relates

Entity Set B

Entity Set B

One-to-many:
Entity Set A

Entity Set B

Relates

Entity Set B

Relates

1:n

Entity Set B

Relates

0:n

Entity Set B

Relates

Many-to-many:
Entity Set A

One-to-many:
(mandatory)

Entity Set A

One-to-many:
(optional)

Entity Set A

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1:1

1:1

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 27

E-R Data Model: Examples

Faculty and departments entities could be
related by a many-to-many member-of
relationship:

Departments

member
of

Faculty

They could also be related by a one-to-one

chairman-of relationship:

Departments

1,1

chairman
of

0,1

Faculty

The 1,1 cardinality for departments means that every department must have
one and only one chairman. The 0,1 cardinality for faculty means that not all
faculty participate in the chairman-of relationship and that no faculty member
may participate more than once. That is, not all faculty are chairmen and no one
faculty member may serve as chairman of more than one department.

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Database Fundamentals: 28

E-R Data Model: Graphical Conventions

Combining these two relationships into a single
diagram, we would have:

Departments

member
of

1,1

chairman
of

0,1

Faculty

A database design derived from the figure above

would allow a faculty member to chair a
department of which he/she was not a member.
To indicate an integrity constraint that requires
membership in a department in order to chair the
department, the E-R diagram would be modified
as below:
Departments

member
of

Faculty

0,1
1,1

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chairman
of

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

Database Fundamentals: 29

E-R Data Model: Graphical Conventions

Class hierarchies (ISA hierarchies) can be

indicated as below:

Person

1:n

ISA
1:n
1:n

1:n

Faculty

1:n

Staff

Student

1:n

1:n

ISA

ISA

1:n
1:n

Tenured

1:n

Untenured

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1:n
1:n

1:n

Temporary

Graduate

1994, 1995 Robert Robbins

1:n

Undergraduate

1:n

Nondegree

Database Fundamentals: 30

E-R Data Model: Graphical Conventions

Relationships may be recursive. Here, this E-R

figure represents all possible mother-child
relationships among all humans.

mother:child
This cardinality indicates that
not all persons participate in the
relationship as mothers, but that
those who do participate may
participate one or more times.

0:n

1:1

This cardinality indicates that

all persons participate in the
relationship as child and that no
child may have more than one
mother.

All Persons

Recursive relationships are particularly useful for representing any data

structure that could also be represented as a directed graph. Entries in the entity
table represent nodes of the graph and entries in the relationship table represent
arcs.

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Database Fundamentals: 31